Let’s pray.
Father,
Open my eyes so I can see Your truth.
Open my ears so I can hear Your voice.
Open my mind so I can understand Your Word.
And open my heart so I may receive all that You want me to receive.
AMEN
Let’s talk about defining moments.
What is a defining moment?
A defining moment is any time in your life in which a choice that you make or an incident that happens causes something in your life to change. It is something that from that moment on defines some aspect of your life.
People have lots of defining moments throughout their lifetimes.
A defining moment can be when we move from being a child to a teenager. It can be the day we get married. It can be when we have our first child. A defining moment might be when you graduate high school or college. It might be during a death of a loved one.
As a Christian you can also have defining moments. They happen throughout our spiritual life.
The day you became a Christian was a defining moment. A time in your walk when you faced your first trial as a believer. A defining moment could be when you weathered a tough storm or when you discovered a Biblical truth for the first time.
There are two things about defining moments that are true; first, people are not limited to just one defining moment in our lives and second defining moments will have a huge impact upon our lives when they happen. Most likely, once you have a defining moment you are not the same again.
There have been many defining moments in the lives of human beings that changed their lives forever and set the course they would follow for the balance of their lives.
Many of these defining moments are recorded in God’s Word. The Bible is a great place to see good examples defining moments.
Moses had a number of defining moments in his life, like when he found the Burning Bush and God spoke to him.
Daniel, Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego had defining moments when they were taken into captivity.
Daniel had a defining moment when he was thrown into a lion’s den.
Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego had a defining moment when they were thrown into a fiery furnace.
King David had many defining moments that affected him in positive ways and in negative ways.
Sometimes the decision we make can be the wrong decision. When David made the decision to sin with Bathsheba; it was a defining moment. Then when confronted by the Prophet Nathan about the sin, David had another defining moment.
The Apostle Paul had at least 3 defining moments. When Stephen was stoned, when he was on the road to Damascus and saw Jesus and when he accepted Jesus as his Savior.
I could go on and on with examples from the Word of God of people who ha defining moments that caused them to experience something that was beyond their human experience. Something that took them out of their paradigm of life. Something that made them move outside the box.
And when that happened, they were never the same again.
Take Joshua for instance. He had many defining moments that eventually caused the whole nation of Israel to have defining moments.
In Exodus 33 we get a hint of a defining moment for Joshua in verse 11 it tells us that when Moses left the Tent of Meeting Joshua would not leave the tent. He was spending some face time with God and it was changing his life. It was a defining moment.
In Deuteronomy 31 when Moses chose Joshua to succeed him as the leader of the Israelites and to take them into the Promised Land, that was a defining moment.
When Joshua came to the Jordan River at flood stage once again, another defining moment for Joshua and for the nation.
His defining moments lead the nation Israel to their defining moments.
When they stood at the banks of the Jordan River they had to make a choice to follow God and cross the flooded river or to stay put.
This event defined them as a people who could trust God to provide a way where there seemed to be no way.
As the water began to part and as the people began to cross over into the Promised Land on dry ground they had a defining moment.
Then right after that the people had another choice to make. As they stood outside the city of Jericho, a seemingly impossible task was before them.
It was the first city to conquer and the people who occupied the city were strong and well protected. It was far beyond their ability to penetrate the walls of this city and yet they obeyed God and had a defining moment when they let God win the battle.
Another defining moment came for Joshua and the people of Israel when they suffered their first defeat against Ai. How would they react because they were defeated? This would define them.
They made a bad choice and tried to defeat the city while depending upon their own resources instead of relying on God.
The very fact that they turned back to God defined them.
We are not defined by our defeats. We are defined by how we respond to them. How we respond can make us conquers or cowards. It is a defining moment.
In Joshua 24, after all the fighting to take the land that God had promised them, the nation is faced with yet another defining moment.
All the people are summoned together and Joshua challenges the whole nation to make a choice as to who they are going to serve.
Listen to how Joshua approaches this choice with Israel. He gives them a little history report and then he says to them:
14 “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:14-15 NIV
From this moment on the nation of Israel is going to make a decision that will define them.
Will they be a people that is going to serve God or a people that is going to serve themselves?
Are they going to be a people that depends on God or are they going to depart from the dependent relationship?
Will they walk by faith or will they walk by sight?
Will they live as covenant people in a pagan culture or will they succumb to the influence of evil around them?
This was a defining moment!
I would dare to say that people in our society today are faced with the same defining moment as this and it would sound exactly the same.
Are we going to allow Christ into our lives and reflect Him and share Him with others, are we going to worship Him and praise Him and learn about Him seven days a week or one day a week?
The people of Israel answered Joshua on that day; 16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! 17 It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. 18 And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God.” Joshua 24:16-18 NIV
They were living in a day when they needed a defining moment and we too are living in a time when we need to have a defining moment.
We need to decide if we are going to stand secure in our position with Christ. When we are faced with temptations and problems we are going to live as a saint standing in God’s grace.
When other family members are driving us up a wall, when our kids are making us pull our hair out, when our parents are frustrating us, when we foul up, when we lose something dear to us, when we are not feeling well and when we are hurt; are we going to stand firm.
Paul said, 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Ephesians 6:13-15 NIV
We are living in defining days!
If you have not yet had a defining moment in your spiritual life, you will. It might even be today.
Defining moments usually come out of one or more of three places.
1. A defining moment may come from pain.
It could be a physical pain, an emotional pain but regardless it is a pain that causes you much anguish. It is intense and it is deep.
I liken it to putting your hand on a red hot burner on the stove.
Before your hand gets to the burner you can begin to feel the heat and the closer you get the hotter it gets. You have a defining moment facing you. You can decide to continue to put your hand on the burner or stop.
If you put your hand on the burner you will have scared your hand for life because it was cause 2nd and 3rd degree burns.
A defining moment.
The Apostle Peter is a good example of someone who had a defining moment because of a great emotional pain.
He had betrayed Jesus not just one time but three times in one night. His heart was broken because he did something he thought he would never do. Scripture says that Peter wept bitterly because of his actions.
Peter was faced with a defining moment. Either he could give up and run away or he could face the others and face Jesus.
Peter chose to stay and follow Christ. He decision and his defining moment was based upon his pain.
2. A defining moment may come from a piercing truth.
The Apostle Paul’s conversion to Christianity was based upon a piercing truth in Acts 9.
The piercing truth that was revealed to Paul who was called Saul of Tarsus was this; Jesus, whom Saul was persecuting was alive and well.
Jesus revealed Himself to Saul and he turned his heart to God and became one of the greatest church builders in the history of the church.
No person, apart from Jesus shaped the history of Christianity more than Paul all because he was exposed to the truth that Jesus is alive.
3. A defining moment may come from an irresistible love for God.
David was such a man. He had a deep, irresistible love for God and even though David stumbled and fell he knew that God loved him and when he asked for forgiveness God would forgive him.
The reason he asked for forgiveness was because of his love for God. He had hurt God and when confronted with his sin David’s love for God caused him to repent.
Each of these examples that I have shared with you this morning all have something in common.
From Joshua and the Israelites to David, their defining moment caused their life to be changed.
Their life was heading in one direction; God touched their life in some way; and their life headed in a different direction.
If that is what a defining moment is, some of us this morning in this church desperately need our defining moment. We need a defining moment in our health; we need a defining moment in our marriages; we need a defining moment in our finances; we need a defining moment to break the bondage of addiction; and we need a defining moment to break the doldrums of our spiritual condition.
I long for a defining moment in my life; and since you may need a defining moment in your life also, we need to be able to recognize when we are at a defining moment.
To do that I want to look at Jesus. He had many defining moments in his life.
9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” 12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, 13 and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. Mark 1:9-13
1. We know that we are at a defining moment in our life when we feel that we must leave the safety of what we know to do what we are compelled to do.
Jesus had a defining moment that said, “it is time to begin.”
So He left the comfort of His mother’s home and began His public ministry. He was compelled to do what He needed to do. There are times in our lives when we know that God wants us to do something and we have to make that decision to do it no matter what.
You are compelled to do it.
2. We know that we are at a defining moment in our life when it is faith that dictates our decision rather than logic.
Jesus was compelled to be baptized by John the Baptizer. He didn’t need to be baptized by John, after all He is God.
His faith in God’s plan took over and logic took a back seat.
Some people never have a defining moment in their life because they can’t let faith control them. They don’t let faith control them because it doesn’t seem logical.
The Bible is full of stories that prove faith overcomes logic.
3. We know that we are at a defining moment in our life when our choices are about pleasing God and not pleasing ourselves.
Remember, Jesus didn’t need to be baptized and yet He was compelled to do it.
Why? Because He wanted to please the Father. What did God say to Jesus when He came up out of the water? “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
If we are doing things that bring more attention to ourselves than to God then we are probably not experiencing a defining moment. We need to be pleasing God.
4. We know that we are at a defining moment in our life when it seems that life just got harder because we are trying to do the right thing.
Jesus was obedient to God and that obedience led Him to the desert where He went 40 days without anything to eat. Then after the 40 days He was tempted by the enemy.
What is it I always say? New level – new devil.
It’s not easy being obedient to God. Look what it got Paul, shipwrecked, beaten, thrown in jail, and left for dead because his defining moment lead him to obedience to God.
5. We know that we are at a defining moment in our life when we can see God’s hand of protection all over us.
Jesus was 13 … was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. Mark 1:13
No food means no strength and yet He did not have to worry because God was going to take care of Him just as God protected the Israelites as they went into the Promised Land. God promises that He will protect us in the same way.
Have you had a defining moment lately?
You can have one now or you can leave this church service they way you came in.
Right now can be the moment that we finally tell God yes.
Yes God, I will do what you asked me to do.
Yes God, I will walk by faith and not by sight.
Yes God, I will please you rather than please myself.
Yes God, I am willing to take the harder road if it be your
will.
Yes God, I will trust you even when what you ask me to do seems scary.
We are living in a time when we need a defining moment in our lives. A time in our lives that says, I will grow, I will change, I will serve Him better.
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
What about your house?
PRAY
If you are wanting a defining moment would you stand with me now?
CLOSE
